Twitter repositions its marketing

August 3, 2016

“What’s happening?” Twitter will tell you.

We’ve recently Twitter being ‘the news platform of social media’, because that’s precisely what they’ve always been. But as it happens, Twitter has recently undertaken research whose results have proven that non-users have not understood this. The greatest misperception of their brand is that they are simply another social media network for friends and family to connect.

Realising the gap in understanding between their brand and their prospective audience, Twitter has jumped swiftly to reposition their marketing efforts. Now they are focused on reflecting that they are in fact a platform for news updates – something that the savvy marketer, businessman, social media expert, top dog brand, and public figure, realised the potential for quite some time ago.
Twitter has been a space for users to access regular and real-time updates, all along. But you might not have realised the full potential of this, had you not been an existing Tweeter.

The reposition began in April, with Twitter’s move to the ‘news app’ category in the Apple app store. Then, in the past week, they have released a major new campaign video, using “what’s happening...” provocations – and two successive 16 second “what’s happening” videos thereafter. All promoting the idea that Twitter can be first port of call for news updates. Next in line?: A hopeful move to live stream videos.

No longer do Twitter need to compete with social media giants such as Facebook. They have now taken on new(s) competition. To think that a brand as huge as Twitter, whose research reported “ninety percent of people globally recognize the Twitter brand”, had their marketing slanted in the wrong direction!

This really goes to prove that any brand marketing can be misperceived. Even more a reason to call for a drive for smaller companies to assess their strategies and ensure they are telling their story well. How do your prospective audience and existing customers view what you do? Do they understand what you do? Is it time to reposition your marketing accordingly? If you need help with telling your story, that’s what we do – did you know?!